Download or read book Rituals of the Past written by Silvana Rosenfeld and published by University Press of Colorado. This book was released on 2017-04-01 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rituals of the Past explores the various approaches archaeologists use to identify ritual in the material record and discusses the influence ritual had on the formation, reproduction, and transformation of community life in past Andean societies. A diverse group of established and rising scholars from across the globe investigates how ritual influenced, permeated, and altered political authority, economic production, shamanic practice, landscape cognition, and religion in the Andes over a period of three thousand years. Contributors deal with theoretical and methodological concerns including non-human and human agency; the development and maintenance of political and religious authority, ideology, cosmologies, and social memory; and relationships with ritual action. The authors use a diverse array of archaeological, ethnographic, and linguistic data and historical documents to demonstrate the role ritual played in prehispanic, colonial, and post-colonial Andean societies throughout the regions of Peru, Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina. By providing a diachronic and widely regional perspective, Rituals of the Past shows how ritual is vital to understanding many aspects of the formation, reproduction, and change of past lifeways in Andean societies. Contributors: Sarah Abraham, Carlos Angiorama, Florencia Avila, Camila Capriata Estrada, David Chicoine, Daniel Contreras, Matthew Edwards, Francesca Fernandini, Matthew Helmer, Hugo Ikehara, Enrique Lopez-Hurtado, Jerry Moore, Axel Nielsen, Yoshio Onuki, John Rick, Mario Ruales, Koichiro Shibata, Hendrik Van Gijseghem, Rafael Vega-Centeno, Verity Whalen

Download or read book Ritual Failure written by Vasiliki G. Koutrafouri and published by Sidestone Press. This book was released on 2013-12-31 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘Ritual Failure’ is a new concept in archaeology adopted from the discipline of anthropology. Resilient religious systems disappearing, strict believers and faithful practitioners not performing their rites, entire societies changing their customs: how does a religious ritual system transform, change or disappear, leaving only traces of its past glory? Do societies change and then their ritual? Or do customs change first, in turn provoking wider cultural shifts in society? Archaeology possesses the tools and methodologies to explore these questions over the long term; from the emergence of a system, to its peak, and then its decay and disappearance, and in relation to wider social and chronological developments. The collected papers in this book introduce the concept of ‘ritual failure’ to archaeology. The analysis explores ways in which ritual may have been instrumental in sustaining cultural continuity during demanding social conditions, or how its functionality might have failed – resulting in discontinuity, change or collapse. The collected papers draw attention to those turbulent social times of change for which ritual practices are a sensitive indicator within the archaeological record. The book reviews archaeological evidence and theoretical approaches, and suggests models which could explain socio-cultural change through ritual failure. The concept of ‘ritual failure’ is also often used to better understand other themes, such as identity and wider social, economic and political transformations, shedding light on the social conditions that forced or introduced change. This book will engage those interested in ritual theory and practices, but will also appeal to those interested in exploring new avenues to understanding cultural change. From transformations in the use of ritual objects to the risks inherent in practicing ritual, from ritual continuity in customs to sudden and profound change, from the Neolithic Near East to Roman Europe and Iron Age Africa, this book explores what happens when ritual fails.

Download or read book Awkward Rituals written by Dana W. Logan and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2022-05-06 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fresh account of early American religious history that argues for a new understanding of ritual. In the years between the American Revolution and the Civil War, there was an awkward persistence of sovereign rituals, vestiges of a monarchical past that were not easy to shed. In Awkward Rituals, Dana Logan focuses our attention on these performances, revealing the ways in which governance in the early republic was characterized by white Protestants reenacting the hierarchical authority of a seemingly rejected king. With her unique focus on embodied action, rather than the more common focus on discourse or law, Logan makes an original contribution to debates about the relative completeness of America’s Revolution. Awkward Rituals theorizes an under-examined form of action: rituals that do not feel natural even if they sometimes feel good. This account challenges common notions of ritual as a force that binds society and synthesizes the self. Ranging from Freemason initiations to evangelical societies to missionaries posing as sailors, Logan shows how white Protestants promoted a class-based society while simultaneously trumpeting egalitarianism. She thus redescribes ritual as a box to check, a chore to complete, an embarrassing display of theatrical verve. In Awkward Rituals, Logan emphasizes how ritual distinctively captures what does not change through revolution.

Download or read book Temple Consecration Rituals in Ancient India written by Anna Aleksandra Ślączka and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2007 with total page 429 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a thorough study, based on both the textual and archaeological data, of the three important temple consecration rituals of the Hindu tradition.

Download or read book The Power of Ritual in Prehistory written by Brian Hayden and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-09-13 with total page 411 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Secret societies in tribal societies turn out to be key to understanding the origins of social inequalities and state religions.

Download or read book The Rituals of Dinner written by Margaret Visser and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2015-06-23 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Notable Book: A renowned scholar explores the way we eat across cultures and throughout history. From the wild parties of ancient Greece to the strictures of an Upper East Side meal to the ritualistic feasts of cannibals, Margaret Visser takes us on a fascinating journey through the diverse practices, customs, and taboos that define how and why we prepare and consume food the way we do. With keen insights into small details we take for granted, such as the origins of forks and chopsticks or why tablecloths exist, and examinations of broader issues like the economic implications of dining etiquette, Visser scrutinizes table manners across eras and oceans, offering an intimate new understanding of eating both as a biological necessity and a cultural phenomenon. Witty and impeccably researched, The Rituals of Dinner is a captivating blend of folklore, sociology, history, and humor. In the words of the New York Times Book Review, “Read it, because you’ll never look at a table knife the same way again.”

Download or read book Rituals of War written by Zainab Bahrani and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2008-03-06 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rituals of War is an investigation into the earliest historical records of violence and biopolitics. In Mesopotamia, ancient Iraq (ca. 3000–500 BC) rituals of war and images of violence constituted part of the magical technologies of warfare that formed the underlying irrational processes of war. In the book, three lines of inquiry are converged into one historical domain of violence, namely, war, the body, and representation. Building on Foucault’s argument in Discipline and Punish that the art of punishing must rest on a whole technology of representation, Zainab Bahrani investigates the ancient Mesopotamian record to reveal how that culture relied on the portrayal of violence and control as part of the mechanics of warfare. Moreover she takes up the more recent arguments of Giorgio Agamben on sovereign power and biopolitic to focus on the relationship of power, the body and violence in Assyro-Babylonian texts and monuments of war. Bahrani brings together and analyzes facets of war and sovereign power that fall under the categories of representation and display, the aesthetic, the ritualistic, and the supernatural. Besides the invention of the public monument of war, and the rituals of iconoclasm, destruction, and relocation of monuments in war, she investigates formulations of power through the body, narrative displays in battle, the reading of omens before the battle, and historical divination through the body and body parts. The author describes these as the magical technologies of war, the realm of the irrational that enables the ideologies of just war in the distant past as today.

Download or read book Contemporary Funeral Rituals of Sa dan Toraja written by Michaela Budiman and published by Karolinum Press. This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kniha s názvem Contemporary Funeral Rituals of Sa'dan Toraja; From Aluk Todolo to "New" Religions pojednává o etniku Toradžů, jež obývá provincie Tana Toraja a Toraja Utara v jižní části indonéského ostrova Sulawesi. Práce se zabývá jejich kulturou a soustředí se na nejvýznamnější soudobý toradžský rituál – pohřeb. Její jádro je rozděleno do dvou kapitol – první z nich představuje etnikum Toradžů a důležité aspekty jejich kultury, druhá kapitola je založena především na výsledcích terénního výzkumu autorky. Zabývá se tím, co se stane s duší zesnulého člověka podle náboženství Aluk Todolo, jak musí pozůstalí naložit s jeho tělem a do jaké míry společenský původ ovlivňuje ještě i v současnosti typ a délku funerálního rituálu Cílem této knihy je nastínit podobu funerálního rituálu v jeho původní formě a zachytit zásadní sociální a náboženské změny, ke kterým dochází v toradžské společnosti od počátku 20. století, kdy na jejich území vstoupili první nizozemští misionáři. Autorka knihy se snažila zjistit, do jaké míry jsou soudobé toradžské rituály synkretickým útvarem – snoubí se v nich totiž autochtonní víra Aluk Todolo a zvykové právo adat s nově přijatými náboženstvími. Práce tedy poukazuje na to, jak nově přijatá náboženství ovlivnila podobu rituálů, soustředí se zejména na jejich formální a principiální významové posuny

Download or read book Last Rituals written by Yrsa Sigurdardottir and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 503 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Icelandic lawyer investigates the murder of a witchcraft-obsessed student in this “suspenseful, compelling and unique” thriller (Kirkus). When a wealthy German student is found murdered at a university in Reykjavík, the police waste no time making an arrest. But the young man’s body was disturbingly mutilated—the eyes cut out and strange symbols carved into his chest. Was this really the work of a local drug dealer? Believing the real killer to still be at large, the victim’s family hires local lawyer Thóra Gudmundsdóttir to investigate. It isn't long before Thóra and her associate, Matthew Reich, uncover the deceased student's obsession with Iceland's grisly history of torture, execution, and witch hunts. But there are contemporary horrors hidden in the shadows of these dark traditions. And for two suddenly endangered investigators, nothing is quite what it seems . . . and no one can be trusted.

Download or read book Stations of the Sun written by Ronald Hutton and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2001-02-15 with total page 566 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Comprehensive and engaging, this colourful study covers the whole sweep of ritual history from the earliest written records to the present day. From May Day revels and Midsummer fires, to Harvest Home and Hallowe'en, to the twelve days of Christmas, Ronald Hutton takes us on a fascinating journey through the ritual year in Britain. He challenges many common assumptions about the customs of the past, and debunks many myths surrounding festivals of the present, to illuminate the history of the calendar year we live by today.

Download or read book Daily Rituals written by Mason Currey and published by Knopf. This book was released on 2013-04-23 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than 150 inspired—and inspiring—novelists, poets, playwrights, painters, philosophers, scientists, and mathematicians on how they subtly maneuver the many (self-inflicted) obstacles and (self-imposed) daily rituals to get done the work they love to do. Franz Kafka, frustrated with his living quarters and day job, wrote in a letter to Felice Bauer in 1912, “time is short, my strength is limited, the office is a horror, the apartment is noisy, and if a pleasant, straightforward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle maneuvers.” Kafka is one of 161 minds who describe their daily rituals to get their work done, whether by waking early or staying up late; whether by self-medicating with doughnuts or bathing, drinking vast quantities of coffee, or taking long daily walks. Thomas Wolfe wrote standing up in the kitchen, the top of the refrigerator as his desk, dreamily fondling his “male configurations”.... Jean-Paul Sartre chewed on Corydrane tablets (a mix of amphetamine and aspirin), ingesting ten times the recommended dose each day ... Descartes liked to linger in bed, his mind wandering in sleep through woods, gardens, and enchanted palaces where he experienced “every pleasure imaginable.” Here are: Anthony Trollope, who demanded of himself that each morning he write three thousand words (250 words every fifteen minutes for three hours) before going off to his job at the postal service, which he kept for thirty-three years during the writing of more than two dozen books ... Karl Marx ... Woody Allen ... Agatha Christie ... George Balanchine, who did most of his work while ironing ... Leo Tolstoy ... Charles Dickens ... Pablo Picasso ... George Gershwin, who, said his brother Ira, worked for twelve hours a day from late morning to midnight, composing at the piano in pajamas, bathrobe, and slippers.... Here also are the daily rituals of Charles Darwin, Andy Warhol, John Updike, Twyla Tharp, Benjamin Franklin, William Faulkner, Jane Austen, Anne Rice, and Igor Stravinsky (he was never able to compose unless he was sure no one could hear him and, when blocked, stood on his head to “clear the brain”).

Download or read book Death and Changing Rituals written by J. Rasmus Brandt and published by Oxbow Books. This book was released on 2014-07-31 with total page 481 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The forms by which a deceased person may be brought to rest are as many as there are causes of death. In most societies the disposal of the corpse is accompanied by some form of celebration or ritual which may range from a simple act of deportment in solitude to the engagement of large masses of people in laborious and creative festivities. In a funerary context the term ritual may be taken to represent a process that incorporates all the actions performed and thoughts expressed in connection with a dying and dead person, from the preparatory pre-death stages to the final deposition of the corpse and the post-mortem stages of grief and commemoration. The contributions presented here are focused not on the examination of different funerary practices, their function and meaning, but on the changes of such rituals _ how and when they occurred and how they may be explained. Based on case studies from a range of geographical regions and from different prehistoric and historical periods, a range of key themes are examined concerning belief and ritual, body and deposition, place, performance and commemoration, exploring a complex web of practices.

Download or read book Rituals and Practices in World Religions written by David Bryce Yaden and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-02-03 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book codifies, describes, and contextualizes group rituals and individual practices from world religious traditions. At the interface of religious studies, psychology, and medicine, it elucidates the cultural richness of practices and rituals from numerous world religions. The book begins by discussing the role that religious rituals and practices may play in the well-being of humans and the multi-dimensional cultural and psychological complexity of religious rituals and practices. It then discusses rituals and practices within a number of religions, including Christian, Islamic, Jewish, Buddhist, Taoist, Sikh, Hindu, Confucian, and other traditions. There is a need for a more inclusive collection of religious rituals and practices, as some practices are making headlines in contemporary society. Mindfulness is one of the fastest-growing psychological interventions in healthcare and Yoga is now practiced by tens of millions of people in the U.S.A. These practices have been examined in thousands of academic publications spanning neuroscience, psychology, medicine, sociology, and religious studies. While Mindfulness and Yoga have recently received widespread scientific and cultural attention, many rituals and practices from world religious traditions have remained underexplored in scholarly, scientific, and clinical contexts. This book brings more diverse rituals and practices into this academic discourse while providing a reference guide for clinicians and students of the topic.

Download or read book Living Full Circle written by Dondeena Bradley and published by S&S/Simon Element. This book was released on 2019-12-17 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover a new path to wellness with this illuminating collection of simple and ancient self-care rituals. In a hectic world filled with trendy products and expensive retreats designed to reduce stress and anxiety, it’s easy to get lost and overwhelmed just trying to find ways to be well. However, as product innovation and well-being services expert Dondeena Bradley shows in this book, the key to sustained wellness has always been within reach with ancient, tried-and-true practices. In Living Full Circle, Bradley translates time-tested and proven healing remedies into practical tools for taking care of yourself. Guiding you through the vast landscape of health and wellness, Bradley focuses on traditional methods and applies them to today’s modern world. These classic and simple techniques will ultimately enable you to rejuvenate your daily rituals, ground and reconnect with all five of your senses, and improve your overall well-being. For anyone searching for ways to take back your health using natural, holistic methods, look no further than Living Full Circle—a modern guide to self-care rooted in ancient wisdom that is, today, more beneficial than ever.

Download or read book Celtic Rituals written by Alexei Kondratiev and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the rat race of our lives, the loss of our connection with the world of nature, and the lack of alternatives to society's conventions for marking important events in life, aspects of Celtic tradition can help. In this guide to Celtic ritual one of its great devotees brings to life the ancient rituals.

Download or read book Eternal Egypt written by Richard J. Reidy and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2010-01-07 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eternal Egypt: Ancient Rituals for the Modern World is the first comprehensive collection of important temple rituals performed throughout Egypt during the time of the pharaohs. The author presents seven key rites from official temple records and ancient esoteric texts for personal or group use. This guidebook also: - presents rituals in a form designed to assist initiates in restoring the ancient rites of Egypt; - provides for modern usage, key ritual texts coming solely from authenticated ancient sources; - contains easy to follow commentaries and background information on each ritual, including symbolism and mythology not previously available in one book; - gives text with commentary for the “Opening of the Mouth” ceremony; - offers practical information for conducting these rituals in today’s world. Formerly only available to the scholar and professional Egyptologist, these ritual texts reveal the deeply spiritual understanding of humanity’s relationship to divinity that characterized the ancient Egyptian sense of the sacred. This is a practical intermediate level text for those wishing to worship the great deities of ancient Egypt in as authentic a manner as possible, and by so doing tap into the great spiritual heritage that sustained Egyptian culture for over three thousand years.

Download or read book Rituals of Royalty written by David Cannadine and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1992-04-23 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Heads of state today mark their rites of passage with splendid ceremonial, from Reagan's inaugural to Andropov's funeral. Such spectacles continue to be a prominent part of modern political systems, of varied ideological hue, but their precise meaning and importance often remain unclear. The essays in this book - all specially written for it - address the central problem in the understanding of royal rituals, namely the relation between power and anthropologists, and the traditional societies examined range from ancient Babylon to nineteenth-century Madagascar, from medieval Europe to contemporary Ghana.